Utilization of an video camera in study of the goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) diet

Abstract

In 2009, research was carried out into the food spectrum of goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) by means of automatic digital video cameras with a recoding device in the area of the Chřiby Upland. The monitoring took place at two localities in the vicinity of the village of Buchlovice at the southeastern edge of the Chřiby Upland in a period from hatching the chicks to their flying out from a nest. The unambiguous advantage of using the camera systems at the study of food spectrum is a possibility of the exact determination of brought preys in the majority of cases. As much as possible economic and effective technology prepared according to given conditions was used. Results of using automatic digital video cameras with a recoding device consist in a number of valuable data, which clarify the food spectrum of a given species. The main output of the whole project is determination of the food spectrum of goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) from two localities, which showed the following composition: 89 % birds, 9.5 % mammals and 1.5 % other animals or unidentifiable components of food. Birds of the genus Turdus were the most frequent prey in both cases of monitoring. As for mammals, Sciurus vulgaris was most frequent.

Keywords

• goshawk (<i>Accipiter gentilis</i>)
• species determination
• prey